30,000 visitors see new UK Parliament exhibition

Running until 6 October, the popular exhibition features re-creations of lost historical spaces inside the Palace of Westminster such as the Tomb, the Cage and the Ventilator, as well as rare and previously unseen historic objects, pictures and archives from the Parliamentary collections and elsewhere.

Exhibits include the suit worn by the first sitting female MP Nancy Astor, a rare anti-suffrage doll, and a leather body belt fastened with straps with heavy chains and padlocks, used by the suffragettes Muriel Matters and Helen Fox to chain themselves to the grille that divided the House of Commons from the Ladies' Gallery.

Over the summer recess parliamentary business will stop, giving many more members of the public and international visitors the opportunity to visit the free exhibition and see for themselves the remarkable journey that finally led to an equal franchise for men and women.

Feedback from visitors has been overwhelmingly positive, with one guest saying it was “very emotive to have this story in the heart of Parliament” adding that it was “an excellent, inspiring exhibition.” Another said the “brilliantly conceived” exhibition was a reminder to all women to exercise their rights to vote, which were “won at such cost.”

Book your free ticket for Voice and Vote: Women’s Place in Parliament on our website.